Mon April 15, 2013

Thirty years ago, a North American ship dumped ballast water containing comb jellyfish into the black sea and triggered a catastrophic decline in marine life. A decade later, discharged ballast containing a strain of cholera contaminated shellfish of the coast of Peru, killing more than 12,000 Latin Americans. These cases of biological stowaways are being targeted by the United Nations for regulation – but the treaty that would prevent future catastrophes has yet to be ratified. Fred Pearce is the environment consultant for New Scientist discusses the stowaway problem and potential solutions with us.

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8:41

Word of Mouth

9:49 am

Thu December 6, 2012

This week the United Nation's Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRDP) was narrowly rejected on the Senate floor. The treaty, negotiated during the Bush administration, has already been ratified by126 other nations—including China, Russia, and Iran.

All Things Considered

4:54 pm

Mon May 21, 2012

A few weeks back the Huffington Post and the nonprofit group Youth Service America issued a list of the 25 most powerful and influential young people in the world.

And one of them is from Derry, New Hampshire. Dylan Mahalingam founded the volunteer organization Lil’ MDG’s in 2004, at age nine. Since then he’s worked to encourage millions of youths to find ways to improve conditions for young people. He joins All Things Considered host Brady Carlson with more about what he does.

The Exchange

9:00 am

Fri March 23, 2012

Today we examine the U.N. doctrine known as “Responsibility to Protect”. It’s the idea that the international community must not tolerate crimes against humanity and has recently been invoked in such cases as Libya but not YET with Syria. Meanwhile, critics fear Responsibility to Protect opens the door to foreign influence in domestic conflicts and diminishes sovereign power.

North Country

5:18 pm

Thu February 2, 2012

Here is how the North Country representatives voted on Wednesday when the House passed a resolution – HCR32 - calling for the United States to withdraw from the United Nations “so that the United States may retain its sovereignty and control over its own funds and military forces.”